In a recent post, Andrew Hyde announced his location-based suicide. Recent stalking incidents left him believing that the personal safety and privacy risks of location sharing outweigh the benefits. It’s a common concern that I hear among non-early adopters and particularly women – and for good reason.  There are people out there that will use this information in ways you don’t want them to.  His post, however, finally inspired me to write this one, which is not about how other people use location based information; but how we can use it to impact how we design our life.

Lifestyle design is a term coined by Tim Ferris in The Four Hour Workweek, and its definition according to Wikipedia is:

Lifestyle Design is the design of one’s ideal lifestyle, especially an unconventional one, providing good opportunities for personal growth, leisure and adventure. Detailed methods include: career planning, entrepreneurship and travel.

I’ve used Foursquare since its launch at SXSW last year and enjoy the game of it, unlocking badges, earning points, etc. Lately I have been paying a lot of attention to where I check in, and more importantly, become mayor.  Because in this data lie answers to my lifestyle and, I believe my overall happiness and health.  I believe that these answers are an important part of location applications and services.  Using them to see what you’re doing and what patterns and habits you’ve established and then evaluating your choices and adjusting your decisions going forward.

For example I recently noted that I was mayor of the following places (note these are all in Orange County, CA except where noted):

• Ralph’s supermarket
• Del Taco
• Taco Bell
• Chipotle
• Walmart
• Costco
• Panda Express
• McDonald’s
• Fatburger
• John Wayne Airport
• Woodfin Hotel Emeryville, CA
• Starbucks Emeryville, CA

There are more, but I think it’s pretty easy to see a pattern in my mayorships. It’s more than a pattern, it’s more like a sad commentary on my life.  It’s also an eye opener.  Now, a man’s mayorships do not necessarily define the man; but there is something to be said for the choices I’ve been making out of convenience or habit and my overall health and happiness.

Since reviewing this list I’ve decided that I’m in serious need of a dose of lifestyle design recalibration.  A recalibration focusing on exploration, sampling local fare and shaking myself out of the comfortably numb routine that I’ve fallen into lately – one primarily made up of airports and fast food restaurants.

This self awareness is a powerful feature of location awareness.  We have the ability to reflect, to look at our actions over time, evaluate small choices that don’t seem like much individually, but add up to habits that we’d probably rather not have when all is said and done.  So I’m using Foursquare now to help shape my life in the way I want, which is to experiment with more local restaurants, to get out of my habits and try new things.

In addition to helping improve my personal lifestyle I expect it to improve my ability to think creatively, to view new solutions, to be more willing to try something new and take risks, to get comfortable feeling uncomfortable.  I believe that these are all powerful and valuable opportunities.

Would I have realized this without Foursquare? Maybe. But it might’ve taken a change in pant size before it clicked. Now I know much faster.  So while Foursquare and location have it’s downsides, it’s important to look for other non-obvious benefits.  I plan on using it to make sure I’m not the mayor of too many places I’d rather not be; and instead focus on getting out of my routine and seeing what’s out there.  I encourage you to do the same.